It is Not in the Heavens – "לֹא בַשָּׁמַיִם הִוא"

Introduction

"This Commandment"

Chapter 30 describes how the nation, after enduring many punishments for not adhering to the commandments, will ultimately return unto Hashem, listen to His instructions, and love Him with a full heart and soul:1

(2) And you will return to Hashem your God and listen to His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul.

(6) And Hashem, your God, will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love Hashem your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

(8) And you will return and listen to the voice of Hashem, and do all His commandments which I command you today.

(10) If you listen to the voice of Hashem your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in the book of this Torah, if you return to Hashem your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Torah then moves on to emphasize that "this commandment" ("הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת") is not esoteric, but rather readily accessible:

(11) For this commandment which I command you today, it is not hidden from you, and it is not distant. (12) It is not in the heavens, saying, "Who will go up for us to the heavens and take it for us and make us hear it and we will do it". (13) And it is not beyond the sea, saying, "Who will cross to beyond the sea and take it for us and make us hear it and we will do it". (14) For the thing is very near to you, in your mouth and your heart to do it.

The context, though, leaves some ambiguity regarding the commandment(s) of which the Torah is speaking. Does the singular form of "הַמִּצְוָה" refer to an individual mitzvah (and, if so, which one) or to the entire corpus of mitzvot? If it refers to the entire Torah, what is it saying is easily available and attainable – intellectual knowledge of Hashem's instructions or their actual observance?

Devarim Terminology

The term "הַמִּצְוָה" is found in Torah almost exclusively in Sefer Devarim.2 While in some instances,3 one might claim that it refers to the general collection of mitzvot, there are a couple of verses in which it is overtly linked to the obligation to love Hashem:4

(11:22) For if you keep all of this commandment which I am commanding you to do it, to love Hashem your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him.

(19:9) If you keep all of this commandment to do that which I am commanding you today, to love Hashem your God, to walk in His ways all of the days, then you shall add for yourself three more cities to these three.

Do these verses shed light on the meaning of "הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת" in our verse? Do they imply that the phrase refers exclusively to the love of Hashem, or does the term in all three verses refer to a more general walking in His ways ("לָלֶכֶת בְּכׇל דְּרָכָיו"), and not only to loving Hashem?

Returning and Loving

As mentioned above, the first portion of Chapter 30 speaks of two actions – "returning to Hashem" and "loving Hashem" – each of which is performed with every fiber of one's being ("בְּכׇל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכׇל נַפְשֶׁךָ"). Conceivably, both of these are prime candidates to be the subject of the phrase "הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת". However, precise definitions of each of these actions are also somewhat elusive. Does "returning to Hashem" constitute an independent precept of repentance or a more general obligation to observe all of the Torah's instructions?5 Similarly, is "loving Hashem" a distinct commandment of an emotional experience, or does it instead refer to a loyalty to Hashem which manifests itself through the fulfillment of all of His mitzvot?6 Thus, even if "הַמִּצְוָה הַזֹּאת" refers to returning or loving Hashem, it remains unclear whether it refers to a specific obligation or a general commandment to observe the entire Torah.

1 The phrase "בְּכׇל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכׇל נַפְשֶׁךָ" is repeated three times in a short span of ten verses.2 Its only appearance in the earlier books of the Torah is in Shemot 24:12.3 See Devarim 5:28, 6:1, 6:25, 7:11, 8:1, 11:8, 15:5, 17:20, 27:1. In Devarim 31:5, the term appears to refer to the commandment to obliterate traces of the idolatrous nations of Canaan.4 See also Devarim 11:13 and Yehoshua 22:5. It is likely that also in most of the earlier verses, the term refers to loving Hashem (or to its converse, the uprooting of idolatry). For elaboration, see Terminology of Sefer Devarim.5 For elaboration, see The Mitzvah of Teshuvah.6 For elaboration, see Ahavat Hashem.